arXiv subjects

Joerg Schmalian

Publications and source records attributed to Joerg Schmalian.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Elastic Quantum Criticality in Nematics and Altermagnets via the Elasto-Caloric Effect

The coupling between electronic nematic degrees of freedom and acoustic phonons is known to significantly alter the universality class of a nematic quantum critical point (QCP). While non-Fermi-liquid behaviour emerges in the absence of lattice coupling, the inclusion of interactions with acoustic phonons results in observables such as heat capacity and single-particle scattering rate exhibiting only subleading non-analytic corrections to dominant Fermi-liquid terms. In this work, we demonstrate that the elastocaloric effect (ECE) -- the adiabatic temperature change under varying strain -- and the thermal expansion deviate from this pattern. Despite lattice coupling weakening the singularity of the ECE, it preserves a dominant non-Fermi-liquid temperature dependence. By drawing analogies between nematic systems and field-tuned altermagnets, we further show that similar responses are expected for the ECE near altermagnetic QCPs. We classify the types of piezomagnetic couplings and analyse the regimes arising from field-tuned magnetoelastic interactions. Our findings are shown to be consistent with the scaling theory for elastic quantum criticality and they further emphasize the suitability of the ECE as a sensitive probe near QCPs.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Visualization of defect-induced interband proximity effect at the nanoscale

The vast majority of superconductors have more than one Fermi surface, on which the electrons pair below the critical temperature $T_C$, yet their superconducting behavior can be well described by a single-band Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. This is mostly due to interband scattering, especially in superconductors in the dirty limit, rigidly linking the pairing amplitude of the different bands. This effect has severely limited experimental studies of the complex physics of multiband superconductivity. In this study, we utilize the fact that elementary Pb - as a clean limit system - has two Fermi surfaces that are only weakly coupled by interband scattering, allowing the formation of two separate condensates. By studying crystallographic defects in the form of stacking fault tetrahedra with our millikelvin scanning tunneling microscope, we show how to locally tune interband coupling ranging from weak to strong coupling and modify the superconducting order parameters from two well separated gaps to one merged gap around defects. The experiments critically test the theory of multiband superconductors and give a route to access a wide range of predicted quantum effects in these systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Quantum Critical Eliashberg Theory

Quantum criticality plays a central role in understanding non-Fermi liquid behavior and unconventional superconductivity in strongly correlated systems. In this review, we explore the quantum critical Eliashberg theory, which extends conventional Eliashberg approaches to non-Fermi liquid regimes governed by critical fluctuations. We discuss the theoretical foundations and recent developments in the field, focusing on the interplay between electronic interactions and bosonic modes near quantum phase transitions as described in the Yukawa-coupled version of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. Special emphasis is placed on the breakdown of quasiparticle coherence, anomalous scaling behaviour, Cooper pairing without quasiparticles, and emergent universality in different physical settings. Starting from a zero-dimensional "quantum-dot" model, we discuss the generalization to higher spatial dimensions and demonstrate the connection between quantum-critical Eliashberg theory and holographic superconductivity. Our analysis provides a perspective on how quantum criticality shapes the dynamics of strongly correlated metals and superconductors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Dynamic paramagnon-polarons in altermagnets

The combined rotational and time-reversal symmetry breakings that define an altermagnet lead to an unusual d-wave (or g-wave) magnetization order parameter, which in turn can be modeled in terms of multipolar magnetic moments. Here, we show that such an altermagnetic order parameter couples to the dynamics of the lattice even in the absence of an external magnetic field. This coupling is analogous to the non-dissipative Hall viscosity and describes the stress generated by a time-varying strain under broken time-reversal symmetry. We demonstrate that this effect generates a hybridized paramagnon-polaron mode, which allows one to assess altermagnetic excitations directly from the phonon spectrum. Using a scaling analysis, we also demonstrate that the dynamic strain coupling strongly affects the altermagnetic phase boundary, but in different ways in the thermal and quantum regimes. In the ground state for both 2D and 3D systems, we find that a hardening of the altermagnon mode leads to an extended altermagnetic ordered regime, whereas for non-zero temperatures in 2D, the softening of the phonon modes leads to increased fluctuations that lower the altermagnetic transition temperature. In 3D even at finite temperatures the dominant effect is the suppression of quantum fluctuations. We also discuss the application of these results to standard ferromagnetic systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Josephson junctions of 2D time-reversal invariant superconductors: signatures of the topological phase

We determine the current-phase relation (CPR) of two-terminal configurations of Josephson junctions containing two-dimensional (2D) time-reversal invariant topological superconductors (TRITOPS), including TRITOPS-TRITOPS, as well as junctions between topological and non-topological superconductors (TRITOPS-S). We focus on long junctions for which several channels intervene in the tunneling coupling through the junction. We present a description of the topological edge modes for different TRITOPS models including $p$-wave pairing and the combination of $s$-wave pairing with spin-orbit coupling. We derive effective low-energy Hamiltonians to describe the Josephson junction, which can be solved analytically to explain the contribution of the edge states to the Josephson current as a function of the phase bias. We find that edge-modes yield singular corrections to the CPR for both junction types. The primary effects occur for the response of the Majorana zero-modes at half-flux quantum phase $ϕ\approx π$ in TRITOPS-TRITOPS junctions and for integer flux quantum phase $ϕ\approx 0$ for TRITOPS-S junctions, respectively. The former effect is particularly strong two-component nematic superconductors. The latter effect leads to a spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry in the TRITOPS-S junction and to a breakdown of the bulk-boundary correspondence.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in UTe2

Time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) in UTe2 was inferred from observations of a spontaneous Kerr response in the superconducting state after cooling in zero magnetic field, while a finite c-axis magnetic field training was further used to determine the nature of the non-unitary composite order-parameter of this material. Here we present an extensive study of the magnetic-field-trained Kerr effect, which unveils a unique critical state of pinned ferromagnetic vortices. We show that a remanent Kerr signal that appears following the removal of a training magnetic field, which reflects the response of the TRSB order parameter and the external magnetic field through the paramagnetic susceptibility. This unambiguously demonstrate the importance of the ferromagnetic fluctuations and their intimate relation to the composite order parameter. Focusing the measurement to the center of the sample, we are able to accurately determine the maximum field that is screened by the critical state and the respective critical current. Measurements in the presence of magnetic field show the tendency of the superconductor to produce shielding currents that oppose the increase in vortex-induced magnetization due to the diverging paramagnetic susceptibility.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Non-local hydrodynamic transport and collective excitations in Dirac fluids

We study the response of a Dirac fluid to electric fields and thermal gradients at finite wave-numbers and frequencies in the hydrodynamic regime. We find that non-local transport in the hydrodynamic regime is governed by infinite set of kinetic modes that describe non-collinear scattering events in different angular harmonic channels. The scattering rates of these modes $τ_{m}^{-1}$ increase as $\|m\|$, where $m$ labels the angular harmonics. In an earlier publication, we pointed out that this dependence leads to anomalous, Lévy-flight-like phase space diffusion (Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 195302 (2019)). Here, we show how this surprisingly simple, non-analytic dependence allows us to obtain exact expressions for the non-local charge and electronic thermal conductivities. The peculiar dependence of the scattering rates on $m$ also leads to a non-trivial structure of collective excitations: Besides the well known plasmon, second sound and diffusive modes, we find non-degenerate damped modes corresponding to excitations of higher angular harmonics. We use these results to investigate the transport of a Dirac fluid through Poiseuille-type geometries of different widths, and to study the response to surface acoustic waves in graphene-piezoelectric devices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

The boundary conditions of viscous electron flow

The sensitivity of charge, heat, or momentum transport to the sample geometry is a hallmark of viscous electron flow. Therefore, hydrodynamic electronics requires the detailed understanding of electron flow in finite geometries. The solution of the corresponding generalized Navier-Stokes equations depends sensitively on the nature of boundary conditions. The latter are generally characterized by a slip length $ζ$ with extreme cases being no-slip $\left(ζ\rightarrow0\right)$ and no-stress $\left(ζ\rightarrow\infty\right)$ conditions. We develop a kinetic theory that determines the temperature dependent slip length at a rough interface for Dirac liquids, e.g. graphene, and for Fermi liquids. For strongly disordered edges that scatter electrons in a fully diffuse way, we find that the slip length is of the order of the momentum conserving mean free path $l_{ee}$ that determines the electron viscosity. For boundaries with nearly specular scattering $ζ$ is parametrically large compared to $l_{ee}$. Since for all quantum fluids $l_{ee}$ diverges as $T\rightarrow0$, the ultimate low-temperature flow is always in the no-stress regime. Only at intermediate $T$ and for sufficiently large sample sizes can the slip lengths be short enough such that no-slip conditions are appropriate. We discuss numerical examples for several experimentally investigated systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Elastic coupling and spin-driven nematicity in iron-based superconductors

Spin-driven nematic order that has been proposed for iron-based superconductors is generated by pronounced fluctuations of a striped density wave state. On the other hand it is a well known fact that nematic order parameter couples bilinearly to the strain, which supresses the fluctuations of the nematic order parameter itself and lowers the upper critical dimension, yielding mean-field behaviour of the nematic degrees of freedom for $d>2$. This is consistent with the measured Currie-Weiss behaviour of the nematic susceptibility. Here we reconcile this apparent contradiction between pronounced magnetic fluctuations and mean-field behaviour of the nematic degrees of freedom. We show, by developing a $φ^4$ theory for the nematic degrees of freedom, that the coupling to elastic strain does not suppress the fluctuations that cause the nematic order in the first place (magnetic fluctuations), yet it does transform the Ising-nematic transition into a mean-field transition. In addition, we demonstrate that the mean field behavior occurs in the entire temperature regime where a softening of the shear modulus is observed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Nematic fluctuations and the magneto-structural phase transition in ${\rm Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2}$

An inelastic light (Raman) scattering study of nematicity and critical fluctuations in ${\rm Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2}$ ($0\le x \le 0.051$) is presented. It is shown that the response from fluctuations appears only in $B_{1g}$ (${x^2-y^2}$) symmetry. The scattering amplitude increases towards the structural transition at $T_s$ but vanishes only below the magnetic ordering transition at $T_{\rm SDW} < T_s$, suggesting a magnetic origin of the fluctuations. The theoretical analysis explains the selection rules and the temperature dependence of the fluctuation response. These results make magnetism the favorite candidate for driving the series of transitions.%Below $T_{\rm SDW}$ the gap of the magnetically ordered phase opens up.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Manifestation of nematic degrees of freedom in the Raman response function of iron pnictides

We establish a relation between the Raman response function in the $B_{1g}$ channel and the electronic contribution to the nematic susceptibility within the spin-driven approach to electron nematicity of the iron based superconductors. The spin-driven nematic phase, characterized by the broken $C_4$ symmetry, but unbroken $O(3$) spin-rotational symmetry, is generated by the presence of magnetic fluctuations associated with the striped phase. It occurs as a separate phase between $T_N$ and $T_s$ in systems where the structural and magnetic phase transitions are separated. Detecting the presence of nematic degrees of freedom in iron-based superconductors is a difficult task, since it involves measuring higher order spin correlation functions. We show that the nematic degrees of freedom manifest themselves in the experimentally measurable Raman response function. We calculate the Raman response function in tetragonal phase in the large $N$ limit by considering Aslamazov-Larkin type of diagrams that contain a series of inserted fermionic boxes that resemble the nematic coupling constant of the theory. These diagrams effectively account for collisions between spin fluctuations. By summing an infinite number of such higher order diagrams, we demonstrate that the electronic Raman response function shows a clear maximum at the structural phase transition in the $B_{1g}$ channel. Hence, the Raman response function can be used to probe nematic degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

The origin of nematic order in FeSe

The origin of the 90 K nematic transition in the chalcogenide FeSe, which displays no magnetic order down to T=0, remains a major puzzle for a unifying theory for the iron-based superconductors. We analyze this problem in light of recent experimental data which reveal very small Fermi pockets in this material. We show that the smallness of the Fermi energy leads to a near-degeneracy between magnetic fluctuations and fluctuations in the charge-current density-wave channel. While the two fluctuation modes cooperate to promote the same preemptive Ising-nematic order, they compete for primary order. We argue that this explains why in FeSe the nematic order emerges when the magnetic correlation length is smaller than in other Fe-based materials, and why no magnetism is observed. We discuss how pressure lifts this near-degeneracy, resulting in a non-monotonic dependence of the nematic transition with pressure, in agreement with experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Strong coupling theory of heavy fermion criticality

We present a theory of the scaling behavior of the thermodynamic, transport and dynamical properties of a three-dimensional metal at an antiferromagnetic critical point. We show how the critical spin fluctuations at the AFM wavevector q=Q induce energy fluctuations at small q, giving rise to a diverging quasiparticle effective mass over the whole Fermi surface. The coupling of the fermionic and bosonic degrees of freedom leads to a self-consistent relation for the effective mass, which has a strong coupling solution in addition to the well-known weak-coupling, spin-density-wave solution. We thereby use the recently-introduced concept of critical quasiparticles, employing a scale-dependent effective mass ratio m*/m and quasiparticle weight factor Z. As a consequence of the diverging effective mass the Landau Fermi liquid interaction is found to diverge in all channels except the critical one, causing important vertex corrections. The ensuing spin fluctuation spectrum obeys omega/T scaling. Our results are in good agreement with experimental data on the heavy fermion compounds YbRh2Si2$ and CeCu(6-x)Au(x) assuming 3D and 2D spin fluctuations, respectively.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Ultrafast observation of critical nematic fluctuations and giant magnetoelastic coupling in iron pnictides

Many of the iron pnictides have strongly anisotropic normal-state characteristics, important for the exotic magnetic and superconducting behavior these materials exhibit. Yet, the origin of the observed anisotropy is unclear. Electronically driven nematicity has been suggested, but distinguishing this as an independent degree of freedom from magnetic and structural orders is difficult, as these couple together to break the same tetragonal symmetry. Here we use time-resolved polarimetry to reveal critical nematic fluctuations in unstrained Ba(Fe_(1-x)Co_x)_2As_2. The femtosecond anisotropic response, which arises from the two-fold in-plane anisotropy of the complex refractive index, displays a characteristic two-step recovery absent in the isotropic response. The fast recovery appears only in the magnetically ordered state, whereas the slow one persists in the paramagnetic phase with a critical divergence approaching the structural transition temperature. The dynamics also reveal a gigantic magnetoelastic coupling that far exceeds electron-spin and electron-phonon couplings, opposite to conventional magnetic metals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Transient Charge and Energy Balance in Graphene Induced by Ultrafast Photoexcitation

Ultrafast optical pump-probe spectroscopy measurement on monolayer graphene observes significant optical nonlinearities. We show that strongly photoexcited graphene monolayers with 35 fs pulses quasi-instantaneously build up a broadband, inverted Dirac fermion population. Optical gain emerges and directly manifests itself via a negative conductivity at the near-infrared region for the first 200fs, where stimulated emission completely compensates absorption loss in the graphene layer. To quantitatively investigate this transient, extremely dense photoexcited Dirac-fermion state, we construct a two-chemical-potential model, in addition to a time-dependent transient carrier temperature above lattice temperature, to describe the population inverted electronic state metastable on the time scale of tens of femtoseconds generated by a strong exciting pulse. The calculated transient optical conductivity reveals a complete bleaching of absorption, which sets the saturation density during the pulse propagation. Particularly, the model calculation reproduces the negative optical conductivity at lower frequencies in the states close to saturation, corroborating the observed femtosecond stimulated emission and optical gain in the wide near-infrared window.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Post-transient relaxation in graphene after an intense laser pulse

High intensity laser pulses were recently shown to induce a population inverted transient state in graphene [T. Li et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 167401 (2012)]. Using a combination of hydrodynamic arguments and a kinetic theory we determine the post-transient state relaxation of hot, dense, population inverted electrons towards equilibrium. The cooling rate and charge-imbalance relaxation rate are determined from the Boltzmann-equation including electron-phonon scattering. We show that the relaxation of the population inversion, driven by inter-band scattering processes, is much slower than the relaxation of the electron temperature, which is determined by intra-band scattering processes. This insight may be of relevance for the application of graphene as an optical gain medium.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Reply to Comment by E. Babaev and M. Silaev, arXiv:1105.3756

The criticism of Babaev and Silaev notwithstanding, we conclude that our analysis is correct. We have found in our papers on two-band superconductors close to Tc, where the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory applies, that these materials are characterized by a single order parameter, governed by a single correlation length. In the GL domain, the order parameters of individual bands are proportional to each other. This happens due to the unavoidable inter-band Josephson coupling. Consequently, in the regime where the GL theory applies, these systems are either type-I or type-II superconductors with no room for so called "1.5-type" superconductivity. This conclusion does not mean that at lower temperatures, outside of the GL domain, the inter-vortex interaction cannot have interesting properties, however, the latter cannot be addressed with the standard GL formalism.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Glassiness in Uniformly Frustrated Systems

We review several models of glassy systems where the randomness is self generated, i.e. already an infinitesimal amount of disorder is sufficient to cause a transition to a non-ergodic, glassy state. We discuss the application of the replica formalism developed for the spin glass systems to study the glass transition in uniformly frustrated many-body systems. Here a localization in configuration space emerges leading to an entropy crisis of the system. Using a combination of density functional theory and Landau theory of the glassy state, we first analyze the mean field glass transition within the saddle point approximation. We go beyond the saddle point approximation by considering the energy fluctuations around the saddle point and evaluate the barrier height distribution.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗